The present invention relates generally to seals for doors and more particularly to seals between doors that are inflatable and deflatable to allow for sealing when closed as well as door opening without door seal interference.
Some vehicles have door arrangements where two doors are mounted side by side and both open by pivoting away from each other (i.e., the hinges are on the sides opposite from the opposed door). This arrangement is sometimes used, for example, in extended cab pickup trucks where the front door pivots forward and a smaller rear door of the extended cab pivots backwards—without an B-pillar between the two doors. For such door arrangements, there needs to be a gap between the two doors in order to allow them to swing from open to closed without hitting each other. This gap, however, needs to be effectively sealed to prevent water and noise from entering the vehicle while the doors are closed since there is no B-pillar to seal each door against. Fixed seals have been used for sealing in the gap between the doors, but they require hard parts of the door and body to be close together to allow for effective sealing.
This arrangement, then, typically requires that the two doors cannot both be opened independently of the other door, while still providing effective sealing. For a typical vehicle, the front door must be opened first, then the second can be opened. This allows for two surfaces between which the fixed seals can be located.